It should be over. Just a memory. Some photos, some jet lag, and lots of stats and coach’s notes from last week’s two preseason games in the People’s Republic of China against the Los Angeles Lakers to help them prepare to start the new NBA season.
The Brooklyn Nets left the People’s Republic of China with two wins over L.A. A narrow 114-111 victory on Thursday, and a decisive 91-77 win on Saturday, but the tweets from Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey, “Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” a chant used by their thousands of protesters, has brought attention to and an understanding of the unrest that exists in China, an NBA partner.
The Nets will go on with their season, a final preseason game against the Toronto Raptors here in Brooklyn tomorrow night (Friday, Oct. 18) before they and the NBA officially open the 2019-2020 regular season next week—Brooklyn on Wednesday night at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But the situation in China, a complicated, detailed one with multiple layers which in essence affect one’s civil liberties, will not be over until the unrest there ends.
The Nets are indirectly/directly involved. The team’s new owner, or governor, as they’re now addressed as, Joseph Tsai, was born in Taiwan and is a dual citizen of Hong Kong and Canada.
Tsai, a billionaire businessman, initially invested in the Nets two years ago, purchasing a 49% stake from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov for $2.3 billion with the option to buy the remaining portion of the team no later than 2021. Tsai exercised that option this summer, recently taking over control of the team and Barclays Center, the Nets’ arena which he also purchased from Prokhorov for another billion.
In an open letter to the Nets and NBA fans, Tsai wrote, “When I bought controlling interest in the Brooklyn Nets in September, I didn’t expect my first public communication with our fans would be to comment on something as politically charged and grossly misunderstood as the way hundreds of millions of Chinese NBA fans feel about what just happened.”
Tsai goes on to discuss how Chinese fans have reacted extremely negatively to Morey’s tweet in support of protest in Hong Kong and how the Rockets have lost the great amount of support and numbers of sponsorships in the aftermath. With the NBA being “a fan-first league,” it has to take notice when hundreds of millions of fans are furious over an issue. “The league, and anyone associated with the NBA, will have to pay attention.”
In regards to freedom of speech and people freely expressing their opinion, Tsai recognies this as an inherent American freedom and that “the NBA has been very progressive in allowing players and other constituents a platform to speak out on issues.” The problem that exists for Tsai is that “there are certain topics that are third-rail issues in certain countries, societies and communities.” Issues such as civil rights or equal rights are a third-rail issue here in the United States, or to keep it in the context of sports, a player, coach or governor being heavily fined for critizing or questioning an official’s bad call.
“Supporting a separatist movement in a Chinese territory is one of those third-rail issues, not only for the Chinese government, but also for all citizens in China,” Tsai stated.
Like the separatist movements in Chinese territories, the Nets are ready to fight through the Eastern Conference, to move up from being a 6-seed, done in the first round of postseason play, to advancing to the conference finals. They’ll start with four out of five home games to start the season—Minnesota on Wednesday, the New York Knicks on Friday, a game away against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, and the Indiana Pacers and the Houston Rockets at Barclays the following week.